Equitable Life should have warned me

Customer Alistair Garland

MPs on the Treasury Select Committee are also examining the regulatory and risk management issues for life assurers, following the Equitable Life affair.

Equitable lost its case over the payment of guaranteed pensions in the Court of Appeal in January 2000, a decision upheld by the House of Lords in July.

The company has told the BBC it went on to sell investments to 20,000 new customers in between the hearings.

'No warning of risk'

Equitable customer Alistair Garland believes he was misled into putting �5,000 into a pension plan in March.

"I think, in retrospect, the Equitable Life should have warned me that there was the possibility that the House of Lords would support the Court of Appeal's decision and if that was the case I would suffer financially," he said.

The House of Lords ruling left Equitable with liabilities of at least �1.5bn, although the society was criticised for stating in its 2000 annual report that it only faced a bill of �50m.

Halifax has agreed a �1bn deal for the assets from the pension group that will create a bank and life insurance giant Halifax Equitable.

Halifax, Britain's largest mortgage bank, believes it will achieve returns of 15% from the purchase within three years.